South African gold miners strike
The gold miners in South Africa deserve better living conditions, but South Africa has been slowly improving during the past 10 or 15 years.
I was fortunate to be able to speak informally wtih South Africans in South Africa about race relations, economics, and such in 1999. It was one of the most interesting experiences I've had -- and I've done a thing or two.
Some black South Africans were pessimistic about the lack of progress since Apartheid ended, and doubtful the de facto segregation would ever go away.
I tried to point out that these things take time, as is evident in the United States. And these conversations occurred in a lower-to-middle-class bar that was about half black, half white -- something one probably wouldn't have seen before 1994.
But an informal Apartheid still exists to an extent, of course. The country is far from ideal, but I maintain that the situation is improving and it is in better shape than many other African states.
Some of the South Africa's problems, however, are exemplified in the recent strike.
From the above-cited BBC article:
Under apartheid laws miners were forced to live in barracks, leaving their families in townships far away.
Even though the racial zoning laws were struck down by 1991, ahead of 1994's landmark multi-racial elections, about three out of four of South Africa's 200,000 miners still live in hostels.
AngloGold Ashanti says there is an average of six men per room in its hostels, down from 12 a decade ago. Harmony says its hostels average 4.2 men per room
Here's another indication of the racial divisions... but are the ethnic demarkations giving way to class identification?
But a second union, Solidarity, looks set to join the dispute just before midnight (2200 GMT).
Most Solidarity members are white and it is rare for it to take industrial action alongside the mainly black [union].
If South Africa's class divide helps to erase racial divisions... that's a start, right?
But, yeah, extreme class divisions need to be addressed -- particularly in countries with extreme poverty, such as most of those on the African continent.
On another note: why are Asian T-shirt sweat shops more hip to sound off about than African mineral mines?
I was fortunate to be able to speak informally wtih South Africans in South Africa about race relations, economics, and such in 1999. It was one of the most interesting experiences I've had -- and I've done a thing or two.
Some black South Africans were pessimistic about the lack of progress since Apartheid ended, and doubtful the de facto segregation would ever go away.
I tried to point out that these things take time, as is evident in the United States. And these conversations occurred in a lower-to-middle-class bar that was about half black, half white -- something one probably wouldn't have seen before 1994.
But an informal Apartheid still exists to an extent, of course. The country is far from ideal, but I maintain that the situation is improving and it is in better shape than many other African states.
Some of the South Africa's problems, however, are exemplified in the recent strike.
From the above-cited BBC article:
Under apartheid laws miners were forced to live in barracks, leaving their families in townships far away.
Even though the racial zoning laws were struck down by 1991, ahead of 1994's landmark multi-racial elections, about three out of four of South Africa's 200,000 miners still live in hostels.
AngloGold Ashanti says there is an average of six men per room in its hostels, down from 12 a decade ago. Harmony says its hostels average 4.2 men per room
Here's another indication of the racial divisions... but are the ethnic demarkations giving way to class identification?
But a second union, Solidarity, looks set to join the dispute just before midnight (2200 GMT).
Most Solidarity members are white and it is rare for it to take industrial action alongside the mainly black [union].
If South Africa's class divide helps to erase racial divisions... that's a start, right?
But, yeah, extreme class divisions need to be addressed -- particularly in countries with extreme poverty, such as most of those on the African continent.
On another note: why are Asian T-shirt sweat shops more hip to sound off about than African mineral mines?
posted by bp at
12:47 PM
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